This deserves it's own thread. Going be some massive changes in years to come!

As mentioned recently by some forum members, the unsightly Napier and Ligertwood buildings will be demolished and replaced with newer structures. In surprising news though, a 24 storey building is planned for the corner of North Tce and Pulteney St which will fit in nicely with the nearby Frome St tower and Eclipse.

A HISTORIC transformation of Adelaide’s North Tce — including a 24-storey tower and a striking modern “gateway” building — is planned by Adelaide University in a 20-year blueprint to be unveiled on Thursday.

In a bid to reinvent the 142-year-old campus, a new multistorey entrance building, including an underground conference centre, is proposed at Pulteney St’s northern end.

Adelaide University vice-chancellor Warren Bebbington told The Advertiser the North Tce campus plans capitalised on the $55 million East End tram extension, likely to include a stop near the proposed buildings.

The unfunded masterplan, which also includes upgrades for the Roseworthy and Waite campuses, is yet to be fully costed but is likely to involve expenditure beyond $1 billion.

Professor Bebbington said the first stage would involve the gateway building and 24-storey tower, on the south-eastern intersection of North Tce and Pulteney St, which would house business, law and economics schools. A 600-bed student accommodation tower is also planned in a revamp of the Schulz building off Kintore Ave.

“The new plan will transform the university’s physical presence over the coming decades,” Professor Bebbington writes in the masterplan.

“It provides a spectacular new entrance and central amenities at North Tce, together with new facilities for many schools and greatly enhanced campus amenities for students. There’s 25,000 students now and the campus was designed for less than half that.”

The gateway building would replace the 1960s Napier and Ligertwood buildings, to the east of the university’s landmark Bonython Hall.

This represents generational change to that section of North Tce given the overwhelming number of heritage buildings on the boulevard’s northern side.

Professor Bebbington said the masterplan was the next stage of development after the $246 million Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building in the city’s West End — due to open next year and the largest capital works project in the university’s history.

The university would have to fund the entrance building but partners, such as superannuation funds and private developers, would be sought for the 24-storey tower and student accommodation building.

The entrance building would include a new arts precinct, showcasing music and creative arts, while vehicle entrances would be relocated to Frome Rd and lead into an underground carpark.

The carpark works would enable the campus to be effectively a single level, removing the need for students and staff to traverse relatively steep stairs. The Napier Building that the new “gateway” would replace had concrete cancer, Professor Bebbington said, and would have to be demolished in years to come.

The gateway building also would enable the university to display a significant art collection, including hundreds of pieces now kept in storage.

The university last month sold the 4ha Thebarton campus to a group of private investors for a sum said to be in the low-to-mid $20 million range.

Professor Bebbington said the university council had given in-principle approval to the masterplan but the next step would involve developing business cases and feasibility studies for the key projects. However, the masterplan was not based upon a significant expansion of student numbers, given relatively flat forecasts for SA school leaver numbers and relatively slow growth in international student ranks for at least the next seven years.

Projects at the other campuses include a grand tree-lined ring road around Roseworthy’s historic centrepiece building and recasting the layout and services at Waite. The masterplan does not extend to the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the old RAH site.

The free East End tram shuttle was announced in July, when Professor Bebbington said it would provide the North Tce campus’s 27,000 staff and students an environmentally responsible way to get to university.

It also will link more than 2000 staff and students at the West End building.

Interestingly, the existing building on the SE corner of Pulteney St/North Tce is staying. The new building wraps around the northern and eastern sides of it, replacing just the low-rise portion.

Also spotted in the video - eventual plans to demolish and replace their medical buildings on the eastern side of Frome St. I'd be surprised if the south building isn't heritage listing, and believe the north building is worthy of preservation as well.

Would be great to see some new development, and for some of those uglier buildings to go. My only complaint is they aren't bulldozing the Schultz building entirely, but hopefully the facelift will be good enough to make it completely unrecognisable.

PeFe wrote:I don't understand why the university is keeping the building on the south east corner of Pulteney St/.North Tce.
I would demolish it and totally start again on that site.

As ugly as that building is, I believe they spent a lot of money refurbishing it (and labelling it Nexus 10) which is probably why they are keen on keeping it - not to mention it probably helps them manage their accomodation situation better by keeping it while they build the others.

But yeah - that building (and the 'plaza' it sits on) was horrendous ~20 years ago and isn't much better today...

Can't fault those renders!! If only this same standard of architecture could be replicated throughout other parts of the city. Interesting that the building on the corner of pultney appears to have a curved metal backing...a much more interesting alternative to the standard blank concrete wall we are used to seeing

It would be great if this could then make way for Uni SA to really re-develop their City West campus, especially the North Terrace side. I have heard there are further plans, and I love what they have done with the new additions to that campus. But lets be honest. The red brick, yellow finishing are beyond dated and tacky.

Would really lift North Terrace and hopefully make way for better projects that aren't tacky student accom.

This is a certainly a bold proposal! Obviously the architects have understood that the design of the main building is paramount to the aesthetic of North Terrace and have created something quite iconic. Yet it still fits in well with the surrounding streetscape! I love how the buildings seem to float and move outwards towards the plaza. I personally think that the design of the latest buildings at the North Terrace camps have left a lot to be desired. Ingkarni Wardli and The Braggs were both quite modest in their exterior design, whereas this proposal (and the med school too) seem to have turned over a new page in brilliant architecture for the University.